This article explains how to set up your client portal. Through the Client Portal Manager, you can configure the client’s look and feel, communication information, the client-facing timeline, and client billing settings.
Enable and Access
Access to the Client Portal Manager requires an Admin user to:
- Add the Client Portal product for your user in the Account Manager tool.
- Add the Client Portal permission for your user in the Advanced Access tab.
Note: There is a user called "Client Portal" or "Client PortalUser" in the Account Manager tool and in the System and API Users team. To keep the client portal working properly, do not alter this user’s permissions or turn off auto-add settings.
Once you have access, navigate to the Client Portal Manager by clicking main menu > Advanced and then selecting Client Portal Manager from the left side menu. If prompted, select your Org from the dropdown.
Display
In the Display section, you can configure your client portal’s look, including the name, logo, colors, address, and team information.
As you make changes to your display, they appear in the preview on the right side of the section. The business name, header color, and project name appear in the header bar on all pages of the client portal.
If you choose to display your project ID, business information, or team members, this information appears in the Home section for the client to see.
Below is the client view of the added project ID, team, and business information.
For the team member section, you can choose which team members to display by using their roles.
Once you’ve made the changes you would like, make sure to click Save. The changes update in the portal immediately for clients to see.
Communication
Configure automated communication with the client in the Communication section. These communications are sent to the client when different events happen in the portal. All of these communications come pre-filled with default messages.
Under the Notifications tab, configure the following:
- initial invite: this message is sent to the client via text or email when you invite them to the client portal, along with a link to activate their account
- project update: this message is sent when you change the project’s phase in such a way that the client-facing timeline is updated. (Learn more in the subsequent Timelines section.)
- new message: this message is sent when you send a client portal message to the client.
For each of these messages, the SMS message text is used for clients using SMS or push notifications as their notification method. The email header and body text are used for clients using their email for their notifications.
Click the Automated Messages tab to configure messages that clients receive in the portal. Here, you can set up an automated welcome message for clients who log into the portal for the first time. This message can also be viewed in your project’s Activity Feed after you invite your client to the portal.
Language Support
In the Language Support tab, you can select your language options. The Client Portal supports English and Spanish. To allow Spanish options, select Spanish under Supported Languages. This option allows you to select Spanish as your default language or editing language.
Select your default language. This is the language that notifications and automated messages appear in by default. The language can be changed client-by-client when sending an invite.
You can also select an Editing Language for notifications and automated messages. This option allows you to configure both the English and Spanish version of notifications and automated messages that are sent to clients. When your organization initially adds Spanish as a supported language, each notification and automated message will automatically be translated to Spanish. If you make changes to a message after this point, you will have to make the change manually to each version of the message.
Clients will receive their notifications in whichever language is selected when they are invited to the portal. For more details, see Client Portal by Filevine.
Defaults
All communications are pre-filled with template messages. To restore the template message on any of the fields, click Restore Defaults.
In the Restore Defaults modal, select the messages you’d like to restore to the template message and click Restore.
Timelines
In the Timelines section, you can create client-facing steps and map existing phases for each project template onto a client-facing timeline. The timeline must be set up and published before clients can be invited to the portal.
Each project template must have its own timeline. Project templates can also have multiple timelines, broken down by a chosen custom dropdown field (usually, this field is the case type). Splitting a single project template into multiple timelines is useful if you use a single project template for multiple case types, and have many phases that are only used for a subset of the projects of that template. Read more about creating multiple timelines for a single project template in the Split section.
To begin a timeline, click Setup next to a project type. You can save a timeline or timelines you’re working on as a draft. When you’re finished creating the timeline or timelines for a project template, click Publish to enable the portal for that project template’s timelines.
Import a Timeline
You can choose to base your template on either a template you’ve made for another project template, or on the template example. If you’d prefer, you can also start the timeline from scratch. These options appear when you first setup a template, but you can click Import Timeline at the top right to select from these options.
If you choose to copy or import, the names and descriptions for the existing timeline will be imported. Then, you can map your project phases and edit the names and descriptions as desired.
Split Timelines
Project templates can have multiple timelines, which are split up by the option selected in a chosen custom dropdown field.
To create multiple timelines for a single project template, click Split Timeline. Select the custom field you’d like to split by. (You can select any custom field from that project template that is placed in a static section and is a dropdown type field. Typically, this field would be “case type.”)
Click New Timeline and enter a name. For example, if you are splitting by a “case type” dropdown field, you might name a timeline “Motor Vehicle Accident” and then choose the dropdown option “MVA.” Any project that has “MVA” selected as its case type would then use the “Motor Vehicle Accident” timeline.
Multiple dropdown options can be added to a single timeline. For example, if you are using a case type field, “MVA” and “Slip and Fall” could both be added to one timeline. If a dropdown option is not selected for any of the timelines, then projects with that option selected will not be able to use the portal.
Once you’ve added timelines, you can click on a timeline in the right side panel to view the step setup for that timeline in the main screen. Click Save Draft and Publish at the bottom of the screen to save or publish all of the project template’s timelines at once.
Create Steps
Create up to 12 steps in the timeline. Each step has a name and description to give the client a sense of where their case is in the timeline.
Use the buttons at the top of the description field to create formatting or embed links in the description. You can click Preview to view how the description will look to a client.
To reorder the steps, click the up or down arrows on a step to move it up one or down one in the order. Click the trashcan icon to delete a step.
Phases to Steps Mapping
Each client-facing step must have one or more internal project phases mapped to it. For example, you might want to map both your internal project phases of “Investigation” and “File Setup” to a single client-facing step called “Intake” on the timeline. In that case, when your project is in either the “Investigation” or the “File Setup” phase, the timeline will display “Intake” and its description to the client. Once you move the project into the next mapped internal project phase, the timeline will move to whichever step that phase is mapped to.
A phase can only be added to one step of a timeline. Split timelines share the same project template and therefore the same phases. For split timelines, a phase can be added to multiple timelines for that project template, but it can still only be added to one step in a timeline.
If any phase is not mapped to a timeline, moving a project into that phase does not affect the client-facing step. The client-facing timeline remains in the same state until you move the project into a phase mapped to a different step.
Choose the phases you want mapped to a step be clicking in the Project Type Phases field and selecting the phase or phases from the dropdown.
Billing
Billing in the client portal allows clients to view their invoices and total due. You can also opt to allow the client to view their project funds and make invoices and project funds payments directly in the client portal. All payments made in the Client Portal are reflected in the Filevine project.
In the Billing section of the Client Portal Manager, you can select different views and payment options for your clients. You can also choose which contact types can view the billing section.
Toggle the four options on to grant additional actions and access to clients:
- show project funds: when this option is toggled on, the client can view the “Project Funds” section, including the available balance and transactions into and out of project funds
- allow project funds payments: when this option is toggled on, the client can choose to Add Funds to the project funds and make a payment of any amount. This option requires Payments by Filevine, and cannot be turned on if show project funds is not turned on.
- allow invoice payments: when this option is toggled on, the client can choose to pay a due invoice from within the Client Portal. This option requires Payments by Filevine.
- show all voids: when this option is toggled on, all voided invoices, project funds entries, and payments are included for the client to view.
Roles
Access to the billing section can be managed using contact types (also called roles). Contacts in Filevine can have one or more contact type. Some common examples of contact types are client, attorney, insurance company, and medical provider.
In the billing section of the Client Portal Manager, you can select the roles (or contact types) you’d like to grant billing section access. For example, you may want to grant clients access to the billing section, but not other contact types like insurance companies or medical providers. You would then select Client from the dropdown. Only contact types marked a client would be able to access the billing section.
If a contact in Filevine has at least one of the selected contact types, they will be able to access the billing section. Access to the billing section is all or nothing—all clients with access will have the same options to view and make payments.
Note: Contact types are unique to your organization, and can be customized through the Contacts Setup Advanced tool.
Disable
To disable the billing section and hide it entirely from all clients, click Disable Billing at the bottom of the section. Click Disable to confirm.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.